State College, PA | Summer, 2006 | 21 years old It has come to my attention of late that there have been a number of publications trading on the theme of “you must experience a given set of a specific category before you die,” which is simultaneously a noble and[ … ]

State College, PA | Summer, 2006 | 21 years old It took me a long time to realize this, perhaps longer than it should have, but it’s finally occurred to me that the reason the Japanese eat so little compared to Americans is because they love food. Stories abound of[ … ]

Tokyo | Summer, 1998 | 23 years old I once went to this roundtable debate discussion thing. There was this black guy there, and he was talking about “the nod.” You know what I mean when I say “the nod,” don’t you? I’d never given the nod, nor had I[ … ]

Yokohama | 2002 | 25 years old In the land of super efficient transport, the train and subway system was my indispensable peephole into Japan. Like most others there, I depended on the reliable trains that crisscrossed the urban metropolises and connected cities and the countryside. Indeed, without it, I[ … ]

Hirakata, Osaka | Winter, 2005 | 20 years old There is a saying: “You can’t go home again.” Of course, on the very basic, very literal level, it is clearly untrue: I write this from my bedroom at my permanent address in the United States, for example. However, there is[ … ]

Hirakata, Osaka | Winter, 2005 | 20 years old For some, there was Disco. For others, Hip-Hop, Rap, Trance, and for others still, even Rock ‘n’ Roll. Every generation has its own music that is widely considered to be wholly unlistenable by older generations, at least in the twentieth –[ … ]

Hirakata, Osaka | Winter, 2005 | 20 years old I don’t know what the big deal is about Tokyo. Let me get that out of the way, first of all. The Japanese are known for their general sense of “sameness,” yes, because it helps the country keep its collective sanity[ … ]

Hirakata, Osaka | Winter, 2005 | 20 years old The first thing you notice when walking into a Japanese arcade for the first time is that it isn’t actually an arcade, and that you walked into a Pachinko parlor by mistake. A lot of people have been wondering, no doubt,[ … ]

Hirakata, Osaka | Fall, 2005 | 20 years old When I first began my writing gig here, I made a point of talking about how I would be covering the everyday, mundane-to-the-Japanese things, and avoiding the “WOW THAT’S SO CULTURAL” stuff that everyone seems to write about for guidebooks, and,[ … ]

Hirakata, Osaka | Fall, 2005 | 20 years old It’s really quite interesting to look at Japan’s various religious structures. For that matter, it’s actually rather interesting to take a step back and take a quick look at Japan’s religions. In a nutshell, the two major religious influences upon the[ … ]

Osaka | Fall 2004 | 20 years old Osaka is a metropolis with a justifiably cosmopolitan reputation among Japanese cities. A commercial hub throughout Japan’s history, Osaka has exercised a considerable attraction for foreigners interested in Japanese culture and economy, and there is an impressive amount of gaikokujin currently living[ … ]

Hirakata, Osaka | Fall, 2005 | 20 years old One of the oddest things about Japan is that, despite its reputation for subtlety and “sameness,” the differences between living here and living in, for example, the United States can’t help but simply jump out at you and assert their existence.[ … ]

Hirakata, Osaka | Summer, 2005 | 20 years old One of the things peculiar to studying in Japan is the fact that it’s one of the very few nations that has what could legitimately be called “raving fans.” There are people doing the study abroad program here for the main[ … ]

Niigata | Summer, 2002 | 20 years old Only twice did I encounter the underlying resentment of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Please understand, in Nigatta I was welcomed into a home sheltered in a traditional neighborhood where community is paramount and tradition is woven into the ordinary. Westerners hardly ever, if[ … ]

Niigata | Summer, 2002 | 20 years old The simple, individual aspects that distinguish one country from another are the treasures one discovers when traveling abroad. These little treasures comprise some of my favorite memories, leaving me with an indelible impression of the intricacies of Japan. The morning after my[ … ]

Hirakata, Osaka | Summer, 2005 | 20 years old The first thing you’re surprised by when you arrive in Japan is how little surprises you. Yes, perhaps it’s made simpler by the fact that most of us who wind up studying here have done our share of reading up before[ … ]

Lansdale, PA | Summer, 2005 | 20 years old Whoever first noticed that ignorance was bliss really hit it on the head. It’s more than a little stressful to prepare for life in a foreign country, and it’s compounded by research. The thing about Japan in particular is that it[ … ]

Osaka | Fall, 2001 | 20 years old When we speak of the wonders of Japan, we tend to focus on that which is man-made. Human innovation and achievement are unquestionably one of Japan’s greatest wonders, and modern technological feats along with the asthetic beauty of older temples and gardens[ … ]

Lansdale, PA | Summer, 2005 | 20 years old Hi there, folks. My name is Greg, and I have a confession to make: I am a recovering Japanoholic. Back in my middle school days, I, like many other nerdy folks, absolutely idolized that little archipelago, with the conviction that Japanese[ … ]

Osaka | Fall, 2001 | 20 years old I spent four months in Japan studying abroad and living with a homestay family in Osaka. During my stay, I visited temples in Kyoto, partied in Shinsaibashi, hiked Miyajima Island, and climbed Mount Fuji. I soaked in Tokyo from the top of[ … ]

Tokyo | 1996 | 25 years old At the time I decided to teach English in Tokyo, I was working three jobs (as aspiring writers and free spirits tend to do to make the rent) and I was yearning for a new adventure. One day an ad in the paper[ … ]

Katano | Fall, 2000 | 24 years old My host father was an executive of a bread company. Periodically he brought crates of extra bread home from work. It was the most wonderful and unusual experience for me because, although there were some breads I was familiar with, many of[ … ]

Kanazawa | Summer, 1998 | 21 years old Smiling, nodding, and running away was one of the early sets of skills I developed during my first trip to Japan. Because I am Asian, I was often approached by Japanese strangers who erroneously concluded that I too was Japanese and similarly[ … ]

Tokyo | Fall, 2001 | 19 years old Before going to Japan, I was taught that social disapproval carries a much higher stigma in Japanese culture than it does in the United States. It was a recurring theme in the culture lessons in my Japanese language and history classes in[ … ]